This fulfills my obligation to say something about baseball.

The Sox and Cubs are both in the playoffs. If they win and keep winning, we could have the first Sox-Cubs match since 1906.
If this happens, don't be surprised by 7-headed dragons in the streets, boils all over your body, and armored, lion-toothed locust swarms at your doorstep...the End Times are at hand!

That being the case, I casually predict TPI and I will begin preaching prophecy while wearing sackcloth. How's that for an obscure biblical reference?

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Sarah Palin 0, Katie Couric 1

I have to agree with Megan, Sarah Palin is a total, complete idiot. Not that most politicians aren't, but she has the unique bugbear of being a green, untrained idiot, unlike the hardened, highly-trained idiot Joe Biden.

Katie Couric flambays Governor Palin:

Palin (in campaign speech) to crowd: I do look forward to Thursday night and debating Sen. Joe Biden. We are going to talk about those new ideas, new energy for America. I'm looking forward to meet him too. I've never met him before. But, I've been hearing about his Senate speeches since I was in, like, 2nd grade.

Couric (after speech) to Palin: You made a funny comment, you've said you have been listening to Joe Biden's speeches since you were in second grade, something like that.

Palin: It's been since like 72, yah...

Couric: You have a 72-year-old running mate - is that kind of a risky thing to say, insinuating that Joe Biden's been around a while?

Palin: Oh no, it's nothing negative at all. He's got a lot of experience and just stating the fact there, that we've been hearing his speeches for all these years. So he's got a tremendous amount of experience and, you know, I'm the new energy, the new face, the new ideas and he's got the experience based on many many years in the Senate.

There's just no getting around it folks, this woman is in no way qualified to be the Vice President of the United States, who (other than the oft repeated job of replacing a dead president) is the President of the Senate, responsible for tie-breaking votes. We certainly wouldn't want Joe Biden, with "many, many years in the Senate" as the President of the Senate, would we?

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This is your math on cars.

So I just can't seem to get over this $25 billion loan the taxpayers government is handing out to GM and Chrysler. So I did a little math to make myself feel better more irritated.

Several auto analysts claim that after late 2009, some automakers could start making a profit "once the economy recovers." (Let's ignore the fact that the definition of a bad company is one that is only profitable during economic booms)

So how long will it take to pay off?
If we optimistically assume the manufacturer's profit margin for a car is 3%, and there are 11 million new cars bought each year from GM or Chrysler dealers, and that each car costs $35,000 (the estimated cost of the Chevy Volt) then the math looks like this:

11 million cars
3 percent of 35,000 = $1050
$1050 X 11 million cars = roughly 1 billion dollars.

So in a perfect world they could pay the loan off in 25 years! Where can I get that loan?!

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Bailout subtexts.

I kept waiting and waiting to hear details about the bailout. Who got what? What regulation was there? Which companies will get help, and which won't.
Partly this was curiosity, I didn't like that the bailout was a giant number with no specifics.
Partly, however, this was greed, because when WaMu is trading at $0.90/share, if they were going to get, say, $55 Billion, you better believe I'd be writing checks to Schwab for every share I could afford.
My understanding is that they didn't release those detailed figures because 1. that'd amount to insider trading 2. they actually have no idea what to do with the money.

I've said it before, and every time someone here at work argues that we are in a crisis the likes of which the world has never seen, I mention it again. This is not new economics.

However, what is new is the level of government corruption and arrogance the likes of which the world has never seen. Perhaps Bush is naive and clueless to this, but Bernanke, Paulson, and Cox, the Triumvirate of Terror that essentially caused (or caused by inaction) this whole mess are trying desperately, desperately to remain in power. Rather than resign, like I suggested, they have written themselves into the future as aggressively as possible.

Any government legislation is shown online, so when the bill went up for vote, we all got a crack at it. Here's an interesting tidbit: the oversight committee for the $700 billion, rather than be a bipartisan committee of economic gurus, or even better, a private consultant with no party affiliation...it is: the chairmen of the Fed, the Secretary of the Treasury, the SEC, and the chairman of HUD.
The same bunglers who caused this mess now think they should oversee it!
"But you didn't mention HUD, at least they'll be clean." Not so, my friends, as I've shown. The Bush speech at a HUD meeting in 2002 is where this whole mess started.

So fiscal conservatives on both sides of the aisle told Paulson he's out of control with his own self-righteousness and voted this moronic article down.

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BAILOUT FAILS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm sure the reason so many Representatives voted against the bailout was because of the insightful writings of yours truly.

My goodness, this is gonna take a while to wrap my head around. Back when TAE was so loudly against this thing (here, here, here, here), it was mostly because deep down I knew it would pass and therefore felt at liberty to rail against it, like any free American.

Now it's failed, and I'm suddenly very worried about my job, keeping a roof over my family's head, and whether or not the Air Force Reserves are hiring, because government work may be the only kind available.

Let's hope the indomitable force of American Democracy stumbles, but does not fall.



Interesting note: I wrote originally that the bailout was financial self-protection by congresspersons with vested interests in these companies that (as I write this) are collapsing like failed stars. Now it turns out the bailout may have been partially rejected because Congresspersons are more concerned about job security than about their own fortunes. Powermongering trumps greed every time.

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History repeats itself in frustrating fashion.

Thursday I wrote about the pathetic state of American car manufacturers, especially in comparison to the bold, innovate strategies being instituted by foreign auto makers. I also wrote about Detroit auto makers wanting a $25 billion bailout from taxpayer pockets.

T. Boone Pickens in 1986: "The automobile industry is a perfect example of an industry paralyzed by bureaucratic inertia. The Japanese and Germans concentrated on building a better automobile while the U.S. automakers added a little trim and rested on their laurels. Then, when the rest of the auto world caught up, Detriot ran to Washington for bailouts and protection."

So happy to see history repeating itself.

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Go Big 12 or Go Home!

As of the writing of this, at 9:26 PM on Saturday September 27th, the current USA Today poll for college football looks like this:

1. USC
2. Oklahoma
3. Georgia
4. Florida
5. Missouri
6. LSU
7. Texas
8. Wisconsin
9. Texas Tech

As I write this, USC, FLorida and Wisconsin have lost. Georgia is down by two scores with minutes left. LSU is leading but not by much. And none of them play each other the next week...if this happened it could last a while.

Could it be that with a little luck, tomorrow morning I'll wake up and the new rankings for the next week would be
1. Oklahoma
2. Missouri
3. Texas
4. Texas Tech

I can't even imagine a world where 4 Big 12 teams sit atop the polls. It'd be a sure sign of...something.

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